Star Wars: Lightsabers
by Shadow Chaser
Summary: Set a year before the last of the Jedi Quest books, The Final Showdown, a one-shot about Anakin constructing his first lightsaber after his training saber and where Obi-Wan reminisces about his own lightsaber construction. Part of Ruminations series.


Star Wars: Lightsabers

By: Shadow Chaser

**Author's Notes:**

Re-reading a review for _Consequences_ and taking inspiration from the book, The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi by Ryder Windham as well as the _Young Jedi Knights_ book Lightsabers, this is a short piece about the differences between Anakin and Obi-Wan's lightsabers. Part of the _Rumination_ series.

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**Story:**

When a Jedi usually built his or her first lightsaber, it was usually a generic saber with Ilum crystals suited for training purposes. The second time they built a lightsaber was mostly a few years after they had been selected as a Padawan learner and had developed the bond with their Master. Obi-Wan was no different than any Padawan when he built his second lightsaber soon after he came of age at the age of eighteen. He had based the designs of the lower half of his hilt to be like his master's for better and firmer grip, wide and encompassing. But he knew that unlike his master, a giant of a man, Qui-Gon's hands were much broader than his.

So for the fine tune work he had made the top half of his lightsaber a smooth smaller concentric design, easier for him to grip if he needed to fight with a single hand. His pommel was fashioned after his Master's paying tribute to the ease in which he always drew his saber from his belt.

But for his third lightsaber, fashioned after he had lost his on Naboo, he had gone back and re-worked some of the designs, making everything thinner and easier to wield, but nonetheless still durable. Upon reflection, he realized that it was probably an instinctive reaction to him learning his newest battle-style, Soresu. A master of Soresu was defensive, not quick and strong like he had used Ataru before where a wide grip was needed to deliver the smashing blows. No, a master of Soresu rarely lost their grip on the lightsaber itself, preferring to see it as an extension of their own body and thus completing the ultimate defense.

Now, he watched as his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, stare at the two unlit lightsabers before him, his eyes blinking slowly as his head barely moved back and forth, staring from his own to Qui-Gon's, retrieved from the Temple archives.

It would be a week or so before his young Padawan came of age, and Obi-Wan knew that while Anakin did not show it at the moment, he was very excited to build his second new lightsaber, the one that would surely be with him for the rest of his life. However, he had expected Anakin to be out; looking at other Masters' and Knights' lightsabers for any hilt ideas, yet his apprentice had requested to see only his and Qui-Gon's.

There was no unspoken rule about Padawan's building their sabers based off of their Masters, and Obi-Wan had never told him about it, but he was very touched that Anakin seemed to pick up on the fact that Padawans who came of age usually built their second saber based off of the people they admired or were close to – and more often than not, that meant their Masters.

"I think I'm beginning to get it," Anakin mused out loud, glancing up at him before looking down at where his hands were folded before him. "Just like the form usually chooses the Jedi, a lightsaber usually chooses a Jedi, right?"

"Yes," Obi-Wan would never admit it, even to Qui-Gon when he was alive, but he had never really felt comfortable using Ataru as his fighting form. His former Master had seemed to sense it and had Master Drallig teach him some of the beginning katas of other forms to incorporate into his Ataru to form a hodgepodge. Now, with him firmly learning Soresu, he had felt more comfortable, more at peace.

Anakin glanced at his own hands before holding them up towards him. "Can I see your hands Master?"

"Palm reading?" Obi-Wan teased gently and saw his Padawan roll his eyes at him.

"Yes," was the slight sarcastic reply, but he complied as his Padawan had asked and held up his hands, fingers spread wide, palm facing towards him. Anakin glanced between his hand and back to the lightsabers before looking at his own a few times. He absently nodded as he picked up both sabers and hefted their weight and feel.

Obi-Wan lowered his hands, folding them back to the front, marveling at how astute his apprentice was becoming. He remembered that it had taken him a while to figure out why Qui-Gon's lightsaber felt so weird in his own hands, but it seemed like Anakin had figured it out much faster than he had.

"Your first lightsaber, I don't really remember it, but it had a wide base right?" Anakin asked, having put down his own and was closely studying Qui-Gon's.

"Yes," Obi-Wan replied, "it gave a better balance for my style back then."

"Quick strokes, slashes, with a slight off-balance feel that was enough to amplify those strokes with some power behind it," Anakin set Qui-Gon's lightsaber down before picking up his again. "And now…this is built for defense, isn't it?"

He smiled at the perceptiveness of his Padawan. It wasn't exactly a secret, but he had been learning Soresu on his own time, preferring that no one really know how deeply he had been affected by Qui-Gon's death to learn a new form instead of using his former Master's old style. But in ways, he was glad that Anakin had caught onto the differences and nodded to his Padawan's question.

"We've been in enough battles where I've noticed that you fight defensively a lot of times. But Master, isn't that bad?"

"Not unless you know that your defense is good enough as an offense," Obi-Wan replied.

"I suppose," Anakin shrugged and Obi-Wan felt a slight tinge of annoyance at his abrupt dismissal. He opened his mouth to say something else to his Padawan when Anakin grinned at him, showing that he was only teasing.

"You're too serious right now Master, relax," was all the youthful young man said, "you know I can never beat you in the sparring room. Well, not until I build my lightsaber."

"Oh really?" the annoyance he felt went away just as quickly and he tried to suppress his grin, but quite unsuccessfully, "should we test this on your birthday?"

"First to eighteen points is the winner?" Anakin asked jokingly, but Obi-Wan let the grin loose on his face to show his Padawan that he meant it and saw the look of slight horror pass on his face, "Master I was just only kidding!"

"We'll call them birthday punches," he laughed lightly as he could his Padawan's imagination running wild behind those shocked eyes at the thought of his Master sparring with him on his birthday and him utterly losing.

"That's not fair," Anakin groused before shaking his unlit lightsaber at him, "you just want me to be miserable on my birthday, spending the whole day in the Healer Wing!"

"If you wish," was all Obi-Wan said, inwardly laughing as he felt a pulse sarcasm run along their bond from his apprentice.

"Fine then," his apprentice growled out, looking a bit put out, "we'll see when I'm done building my lightsaber."

This time Obi-Wan let the laughter of mirth come forth from his lips and only shook his head. Teenagers…

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**Author's Notes:**

There will probably be a follow-up to this one-shot dealing with the actual sparring session between Obi-Wan and Anakin. For those that read Jedi Quest, the introductory novel to the _Jedi Quest_ series, its said that Anakin builds his first lightsaber (after the training one), but I would like to believe it to be similar to a rite of passage style that is echoed in the _Young Jedi Knights_ book and in all of the _Star Wars_ books following _The Empire Strikes Back_ (especially in Shadow of the Empire).


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